Millions of pounds of food products such as snack foods, cereals, and pet foods, for example, are purchased and consumed every year. Typically, many of these types of food products are manufactured and sold in the form of small, bite-sized shapes. For example, many popular snack foods and dry cereals today are packaged and sold in small, bite-sized shapes. Such bite-sized shapes may provide for convenient manufacturing and packaging of the food product as well as being easily consumable by consumers. Additionally, dry pet foods, such as dog food, for example, are also typically sold in small, bite-sized form. Small pet foods may also provide convenient manufacturing and packaging of the pet food products as well as being easily consumable by pets.
One method of manufacturing small, bite-sized food products is a guillotine-style cutter. In these systems, the guillotine cutter is located at a point along a conveyor belt and a cutter blade slices through strips of food product. Because the blade(s) of the guillotine cutter are generally straight, the guillotine cutter can only cut food products into final shapes that have linear and angular edges. Most often, the guillotine cutter is only adapted to cutting square and rectangular-shaped food products. With earlier styles of guillotine cutters, the food product tended to stick to the cutter blade. Some guillotine-style systems addressed this by using an ultrasonic cutter such as an ultrasonic knife or guillotine blade.
Another method of manufacturing these small, bite-sized food products is rotary forming. Traditionally, rotary forming of food products has typically been accomplished by using a pair of rotary forming wheels (the double-wheel style). Each of the rotary forming wheels typically includes a number of cavities positioned around the outer surface of each of the rotary forming wheels. Each cavity on one rotary forming wheel typically has a counterpart of the same shape and size on the other rotary forming wheel in the pair. The rotary forming wheels are typically positioned directly adjacent to each other with the outer surfaces of each of the rotary wheels facing each other. The rotary forming wheels are also typically positioned so that the outer surfaces of each of the rotary forming wheels are in close proximity to, or touching the other rotary forming wheel.
In operation, the rotary forming wheels typically are rotated in a downward fashion so that the cavities at the top of each of the rotary forming wheels are rotated towards each other. The timing of each of the rotary forming wheels is arranged so that the cavities along the outer edges of each of the rotary forming wheels align with each other at the point where the outer edges of the two rotary forming wheels are positioned closest together or touching. When the cavities of each of the rotary forming wheels align, a hollow mold is formed by the two cavities at the point where the outer surfaces of the two rotary forming wheels are positioned closest together or touching. Food product is introduced into the system by filling the upper most cavity of each rotary forming wheel. Then, rotation of the rotary forming wheels causes the filled cavities to become positioned adjacent to each other forming an enclosed mold as described above. As the rotary forming wheels continue to rotate downward, the cavities of each rotary forming wheel containing the formed food product begin to separate.
The food product supply system typically delivers the food product in a sticky or semi-adhesive state. Typically, the sticky or semi-adhesive properties of the food product cause the food product to stick to the inside of the cavities, which causes the molded food product to resist falling out of the cavity by the force of gravity alone when the wheels separate. Because of this issue, manufacturers have relied on a phenomena called “webbing” to facilitate the food product in removing from the cavity. Webbing occurs because excess food product leaks or squeezes out of the cavities when the rotary wheels are pressing the food product between corresponding cavities. The leaked food product created by one molding cavity adheres or sticks to the leaked food product created by the subsequent molding cavity, and so on. Thus, each formed food product is connected to the next formed food product through a “web” of food product. As previous formed food products are removed from the cavities and move along a conveyor line, the webbed food product pulls subsequent formed food products out of their cavities. However, the food product web serves little purpose beyond facilitating removal of molded food products from cavities, and the web results in wasted food product material, which adds to overall cost of the process.
A rotary forming apparatus that does not utilize a food product web is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,635,292, entitled “Ultrasonic Rotary Forming of Food Products”, by Roberto A. Capodieci, issued Oct. 21, 2003, which explains a similar two-wheel apparatus that uses an ultrasonically activated rotary wheel that facilitates a food product to detach from its cavity without the use of the food product web.